The mosaic floor at Horvat Gerarit was first discovered in 1917. It was situated in the nave of a church that dates to the Byzantine period, located on the bank of Nahal HaBesor, c. 6 kilometers west of Kibbutz Beeri (map ref. – 146800/591800).

 

The river bank was subject to erosion and collapse which endangered the remains of the church. Thus in 1976 a salvage excavation was conducted there under the direction of Joseph Porat during which a mosaic floor was uncovered in which there is a Greek inscription within a medallion (c. 1 m in diameter) that dates the floor to the year 598 CE (HA 61-62 1977:37).

 

The prolonged process of erosion washed sections of the mosaic floor into the river. In order to save what remained of the mosaic it was decided to remove it from the site and transfer it to the storehouses of the Antiquities Authority at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.

 

 In 2002 the mosaic was removed from its location in the church by a team of conservators headed by Galeb Abu Diab. Sections of the mosaic were detached from the nave including the medallion and its inscription, elements from the middle of the mosaic decorated with geometric patterns and a floral pattern from the edges of the mosaic. Parts of the mosaic were also removed from the western aisle; these were made of smaller tesserae than those of the mosaic located in the nave. The mosaic that was removed from the nave covers c. 20 sq m in area, while that from the western aisle is c. 1.5 x 3.0 m.